With a little more than a week left until the 2023 PFL Finals, the featherweights and a lightweight finalist spoke with the media to discuss their upcoming bouts going into the biggest night of the season.
Two-time champion Kayla Harrison went (virtually) face-to-face with her new opponent Aspen Ladd who it was announced was replacing Julia Budd last week. While the other featherweights on the call had plenty to say to each other, Ladd and Harrison were cordial and never met in a war of words during the call.
Harrison, who will be making her first appearance of 2023, took the time to explain what the last twelve months outside of the cage has been like for her after having been an active competitor going back to her time as an Olympic hopeful. An outspoken survivor of sexual abuse, Harrison has recently used her platform on social media to bring attention back to her book Fighting Back and to promote her charitable organization, The Fearless Foundation, which helps survivors of sexual abuse.
“I also believe that everything happens for a reason and I’ve been given this platform for a reason. To not use it to make a difference in the world would be a crime. So I do want to shine a light on what child sexual abuse is. I do want to help make a difference in people’s lives and I do want to help kids not only survive but thrive and overcome. I want them to know most importantly that they’re not alone.”
Also on the call was lightweight standout Clay Collard who missed the last call where he would have been opposite defending champion Olivier Aubin-Mericier ahead of the final. Collard, who had been eliminated from the playoffs last year, discussed the opportunity to be the one to hand Aubin-Mercier his first loss in the PFL cage.
“I just gotta be me man. I’ve been calling it since the beginning of the year that it was going to be me and him in the finals. I’ve got my eye on him. I’ve got him figured out and I think I’m the man to beat him. I’ve just gotta be me.”
Kicking off the conversation were featherweight rivals Bubba Jenkins and Chris Wade who will meet for the third time in their careers. The pair have split their first two meetings with Wade winning their first matchup in 2021 while Jenkins eliminated Wade from the tournament in their meeting last year. Jenkins in particularly wasted little time in stoking the flames for the trilogy in stating:
“I’m completely focused on (Wade) for this fight. Next time you all want to do an interview with us together maybe call me after he’s done because I can not stand hearing this dude’s voice talk. He is a terrible interview and this is dry and I’m already ready to go to sleep.”
The PFL World Championships will take place on November 24 at The Anthem in Washington, D.C.
